hurrengoa
how on earth do you read manga comics? txo!?   Japanese comics have been here amongst us for years now. Those of us who gobbled down Dragon Ball as kids aren’t kids anymore and Manga Comics are becoming more and more known over here.There’s a direct relationship between comics and cartoons in Japan. Many start off as comics and later end up as cartoons. Nevertheless, comics have one disadvantage that cartoons don’t have when it comes to being exported over to our neck of the woods; the Japanese read comics from right to left and we don’t. In the beginning it wasn’t really an obstacle to the reader because Japanese comics were adopted so that people over here could read them from left to right. No problem so! The thing is that later on they started publishing the comics in their original format and the great question sprang up... but, if until now we have been reading the comics from left to right, and the comics themselves are supposed to be from right to left, how on earth do you change it round?
The answer is easy. The comics were published in "reflected" form. It’s as if they put a mirror up against the page so you could read the reflection. That way it becomes readable to people here in the West. The artists, however, are not very happy with this. Lots of us had a great laugh as children when we drew something on a piece of paper, turned it over, held it up to the light and saw the deformed version of the drawing through the other side. The drawing, which until then had appeared all right as far as proportion and symmetry were concerned, suffered a terrible disfiguration. That’s why many Japanese artists demand that their work be published as it is originally drawn. That way their drawings don’t suffer any form of distortion.
Readers here in the West have therefore started to read comics from right to left. Truth be told, after reading a couple of pages you find that there’s really nothing to it. You pick it up fairly easily. That way, as happens in many other cases, the relativity of how you read is clear for all to see.

blood: the last vampire
This one, one tome only, has also been published in the original Japanese style. It comes across as being the definitive revision of the character Blood who has been portrayed in many a film and suchlike editions. You’ve never heard of him? Me neither, but that won’t stop you enjoying this comic. It’s another angle on the whole vampire myth that mixes modern genetics, an updated focus on vampires, a dash of sex and the inevitable violence that surrounds the whole legend. Nonetheless, and as is usual in the case of Japanese comics, the comings and goings and personal identity of the character are the most important elements of the story.

nausicaa from the valley of the wind
We have chosen this example of comics published to be read from right to left as we feel it to one of the best available at present. It’s rather long; 1,200 pages divided into six comic books. The person responsible for the script and drawings in the comic is the artist and animator Hayao Miyazaki, his name is cropping up more and more in European circles. He made "Chihiro’s Journey: Spirited Away" and his last film was awarded the Berlin Bear. It was also screened at Zinemaldia. In this comic he has come up with a whole new universe with its own make-believe countries, cultures, races, nature and numerous fauna. The whole thing is laced with a strong ecological overtone. The comic also reminds us that Miyazaki was one of the artists involved in the "Heidi" cartoons. All the same, I bet you my last buck that it’ll keep you away from the TV and that by the time you finish you’ll be sorry there’s no seventh part.